Progress!

My very first post on this blog was my original learning plan for this term, which I added to when planning my personal reading during our poetry unit.

I've definitely been able to get a good handle on one of my goals in my personal learning plan, which was to get reacquainted with all those literary terms and genres I've forgotten. I'd say I'm doing pretty well, and I've been able to analyze works both in class and on my own utilizing that knowledge. This can be seen in my personal literary narrative detailing aspects of the poem "Tulipomania."
Another of my goals was to absorb more literature on my own, and I've done pretty well with this. I finished a great novel and read a few volumes of poetry in correlation with our units, and I've been able to view each with a critical eye based on our learning. I also planned the personal reading I'll do for our nonfiction section.

I've also been able to critically examine poetry and the way it has evolved through the use of new media, and how it can evolve even within what might seem like an already set sub-genre. I've also been able to share the way traditional poetry has been marketed using new media.

One of the best things I've done this term has been taking new leaps with my interaction regarding literature on social media. I've had a Goodreads account for a while, but I was never brave enough to post a review until a couple of weeks ago. I felt that I was under-qualified to give reviews and self-conscious about who might read them. But after posting my first review, I was almost immediately rewarded! One of my friends texted me and said that she thought my review was "lovely" which was really encouraging. I plan to continue posting reviews and interacting more fully.

While interacting on the blog, I've really appreciated some of the comments on my posts. On my first spoken word post, I especially appreciated Briggs', Sined's, and Richard's comments, because they helped me feel that I was showing them something or someone new that they could be interested in. This was especially meaningful since spoken word is something I am really passionate about. I also really appreciated the comment from Kirsten on my second post about spoken word, in which she encouraged me to look at one of her blog posts, and we were able to have a brief discussion in the comments about the emotional aspects of performance poetry. It was really great to be able to find similar likes in another member of our class.